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Subaru opened his eyes. The beginning of a new day was evident from the sunbeams streaming into his rooms and illuminating everything.
This was another day when Subaru must live with his failure. He failed to keep his promise, and as a result, he feared that Emilia would kick him out soon. What helped him reach this conclusion was the fact that for the past few days, Emilia was distant from him, usually talking with Frederica or Sylphy and finding all kinds of excuses not to talk to Subaru and straight up avoiding him.
Rem wasn’t any better, with her still missing her memories thanks to Gluttony; the old love never had any chance to bloom again.
So, this was it. Subaru reached his conclusion. Today is the day he will leave with his favourite Beako.
Would she even want to leave with him?
Forcing the last negative thought to the back of his head and steeling his resolve, he shot up from the bed, waking up Beatrice in the process.
“Ugh… Let Betty sleep a little more, I suppose.” Said the Great Spirit, pretending to be still half-asleep and trying hard to stay in the realms of dreams.
Subaru chuckled. “No can do, Beako!” As he said this, he snatched Beako and started spinning her around.
“Gya—! This is abuse of spirits! Let me down, I suppose!” Beatrice shouted as she kicked around with her small hands and legs.
Subaru continued to spin Beatrice around for some time before finally setting her down after promising her some head pats and sweets, yet the lively atmosphere died down almost instantly with the new topic.
“So, this is the day, I suppose?” Beatrice questioned Subaru, who was fiddling with his fingers, sitting next to her.
He slowly nodded. “Yeah. Are you sure you want to go with me?”
Upon hearing the question, Beatrice slapped his face. “My contractor can be an idiot. Of course, I will go with you.”
“Sorry, sorry…” He apologized for his idiocy again and again, which only earned him a “hmph” from the Great Spirit, before he got up from the bed and held out his hand. “So, let’s go then, Beako.”
As the Spirit and Contractor pair walked into the dining hall of Roswaal’s mansion, the eyes of everyone landed upon them.
Subaru could only sheepishly wave his free hand upon getting the attention, before sitting in his prepared place next to Emilia, who, uncharacteristically, wasn’t smiling or anything. Nor even her father, who was floating around, would spare Subaru any pleasantries.
This is what Subaru deserved, after all.
She didn’t owe Subaru a smile since he broke his promise to her. Again.
And, as he learned time and time again, promises are really important to Emilia.
As Subaru started eating his prepared food, he noticed Emilia staring a hole into him, ignoring her food completely. He felt as if he was in the hunting ground of a predator that was about to hunt his prey, leaving nothing behind. And he was the next in line.
In one moment, as he was preparing to say he would leave, he felt a light tug on his sleeve. Turning to his right, he saw Beatrice, flashing him a pained smile in an attempt to encourage him.
Smiling back at her as a thanks, he turned to the rest of the people in the room. Their interaction, of course, never had any chance of escaping the watchful eyes of everyone around them.
This was it.
Subaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“I have something important to say.”
Surprisingly, this wasn’t said by Subaru, who looked next to him to the source of the voice.
Emilia was standing, pointing at him, all the while wearing a serious expression on her face.
“Subaru,” she began. “You are no longer my knight.”
The air left Subaru's lungs. Of course, he expected this. After all, he failed to make Emilia a queen, so him not being needed anymore isn’t a surprise. But it still hurt hearing it.
“Instead, you will be my husband.” Emilia continued.
A collective gasp echoed through the hall, and nobody knew what to say, Subaru included.
He was prepared to leave, and now he couldn’t.
All the times Emilia left him or didn’t have time for him in the last few weeks… What was she doing? Was this what it was all about?
Subaru’s thought spiralled. Enough for Emilia to use the situation, and before anyone could process what was happening, Emilia sat in Subaru’s lap, firmly hugging him with one hand, while pinching his face with the other.
Her closeness finally put Subaru out of his trance.
“…So, from now on, you will be Subaru Emilia.” She said, but then instantly turned to a gold-haired maid with emerald eyes. “Did I do it right, Frederica?”
Subaru, unable to form any words, looked on as she put a hand in front of her mouth and chuckled a bit. “Oh, you switched it, Emilia-sama. You will be taking his surname. So, you will be Emilia Natsuki,” Frederica replied professionally.
Emilia blushed and pouted as she heard about her blunder. She must regain the upper hand immediately, or everything might be lost. “Hmph. Alright! But I will be naming our children!” Emilia uttered as if what she was saying was the most normal thing to say in the world before looking back to Subaru, who was now a blushing mess.
Emilia could only silently congratulate herself on this success. Nobody and nothing would stand in her way—
“I am against this!” Somebody shouted.
Turning her head, Emilia saw that her father was boiling with rage.
“Lia, I cannot allow this scum to defile you,” Puck said as he summoned icicles all around the room.
But Emilia wouldn’t back down. “Puck. I already talked with you about this. Subaru is mine and you will not hurt him.” As proof of her claim, she tilted Subaru’s head. Before Subaru could ask what was going on, his lips were sealed by hers.
Puck stared with a wide-open mouth at the scene playing before him.
For Puck, Emilia, and Subaru, the whole kiss felt like an eternity, yet each felt that way for fundamentally different reasons.
But Puck wouldn’t give up so easily. After an eternity had passed, Emilia finally allowed Subaru a breath of fresh air; however, it was clear that this wouldn’t last long.
So, Puck used the situation to enact his last gambit. “Subaru, will you marry me?” He asked, confusing the room in the process.
“Huh?” Emilia made a sound. “Why would you want to marry my Subaru, Puck? Subaru is mine.” She pouted, not wanting her father to be a rival in her man’s heart.
“Well, you see, Lia, Subaru and I make a good pair.” Puck tried to scramble for reasons. “He likes petting my fur—"
“He likes my silver hair more.” Emilia bluntly interrupted.
1-0 for Emilia.
Not getting distracted, Puck continued. “I am immortal, so he will always live in my heart—”
“And I will make sure he will always live in the hearts of our children and their children forever.” Emilia bluntly interrupted again.
2-0 for Emilia.
This wasn’t going well for Puck, trying one last time. “I will always cherish and keep him close—”
“He can always get a lap pillow, and I would love it if he would rest while listening to my heartbeat.” Countered Emilia with a wide smile. In fact, this competition was getting easier and easier every round.
But Puck wouldn’t let himself be defeated so easily. “Well, if Subaru wants, he can rest on the best fur in the world,” Puck said as he licked his paw and flashed a smile.
Hearing the talk, Subaru finally managed to get his bearings a little. “I like Puck’s fur.”
Turning her head, Emilia nuzzled Subaru’s cheek. “Subaru, if you want, I can grow some fur as well.”
Subaru responded to Emilia’s statement with “Mhm,” before resting his head on her shoulder. Then it hit him what Emilia said. “Wait, what?” he raised his voice, but the only answer that he got was Emilia starting to caress his head, silencing him in the process.
3-0 for Emilia.
And now it was Emilia’s time for a counterattack. “Puck, do you love Subaru?” She asked innocently, the same way she used to think about Subaru’s flirting attempts before understanding them and putting them in different, brighter, and prettier colours.
Puck floated slightly back. “I… Ugh.” He barely managed before Emilia captured the flag completely. “I love you, Puck, as my father, but I love Subaru as my Subaru. I am sorry, I can’t quite explain it, but there is a reeeealy big difference.”
And that was it. Puck was left levitating in the air, not able to form any counterargument at all. He felt as if he had been run over by a carriage driven by his daughter and the black-haired boy. He could only watch as Emilia celebrated her victory with another kiss and lament his failures. The pain in his soul was only exacerbated by the fact that deep inside his soul, he felt like he could marry Subaru in another world.
The moment their contact ended, Emilia licked her lips, savouring every last bit of Subaru he left her, before smiling and standing up. “Let’s go Subaru.”
Subaru and Emilia were walking to her room while holding hands.
“Ehm, Emilia-tan, you know you don’t have to—“ Subaru tried to reason with the half-elf, yet it was futile. “Oh, but you like holding my hand, Subaru! I am not letting you go!”
Subaru sighed. He had lost this battle the same way Puck lost his.
And now, given how persistent Emilia was, he had to ask. “Emilia-tan, what was going on in the last few weeks? You weren’t talking to me at all!”
Emilia stopped in the middle of the hall as her cheeks and ears turned bright red. “I was learning about how babies are made, and I was so embarrassed to talk to a man who will be the father of my babies.”
“Oh.” Subaru’s automatic response came out before he could process her words. Once that happened. “Wait, what?!”
Emilia turned to him, radiating a smile. “We are going to make babies, Su~ba~ru~.”
Subaru wasn’t able to say no. Nor did he want to.
A couple of the next days passed quickly for Subaru, since he found himself lost in the new rhythm.
He had to wait for about an hour before Emilia woke up, unpinning him, only for her to assert her supremacy by pinning him to a wall and asking him, “Subaru, Subaru on the wall, who is the prettiest half-elf of them all?”
As Subaru learned the hard way, no matter what answer he gave, Emilia would always use her half-elven strength on him to make out with him. Nothing, but her ferocity changed with his answers.
However, he wasn’t complaining. The only thing he was silently cursing was that his past self had the bright idea to tell Emilia the tale of Snow White. Well… Too late for him now.
Afterwards, there is lunch, where they meet many people with eyebags.
Given their morning activity, they always miss breakfast.
After lunch, Subaru is allowed to be on his own and associate with others in the mansion as he always did, but recently, he was getting some complaints, such as:
“Kill yourself, Pervusu, so that Ram and her sister can sleep in peace.”
“I heard the word ‘big’ so much lately that I completely stopped associating it with my debts and alcohol problems, and instead I associate it with you, Natsuki-san!”
“My~, my~, Subaru-kun, at this rate, I don’t know if my mansion can survive yours and Emilia’s passion.”
And what was the cause of these complaints? After Emilia practically monopolised Subaru, Beatrice went on strike and stopped silencing their room, meaning everyone in the mansion would hear how loud they were.
And loud they were.
Other residents of the mansion tried bribing Beatrice with sweets and tea in their attempts to convince her to help them, but they never expected that they had in their ranks a traitor who bribed Beatrice first for their own selfish reasons.
And this has become the new routine of the Roswaal’s manor for a few months.
“We have a visitor,” Otto shouts into Subaru and Emilia’s room.
“Oh, thanks Otto-kun. We will be there.” Replies Emilia with a smile. “Who is it?”
“It’s Queen Felt, Emilia-sama,” Otto responds and runs away.
Emilia closed her eyes. “Subaru, do you believe this is about the Dragon Blood?”
Subaru moved closer and massaged Emilia’s shoulders lightly. “I am sure it will be. We have been waiting for about a year at this point.”
Emilia perked up. “Then, let’s not make Felt wait.”
Subaru nodded and helped Emilia up to her feet.
They walked alongside each other through the hall before reaching the meeting room, where Felt shot up immediately as they saw them.
“Hey, how are you, big bro and big sis?” She stopped in her tracks as she looked at Emilia. “Big sis, you are… Well, big.”
Emilia laughed and placed her hand on her belly. “Well, I am expecting twins after all.”
Felt crosses her hands and frowns. “And you are telling me now?” Then she paused, thinking deeply for some time, before stomping her feet in one place. “Oh, I am going to throw those old farts out of the window one day. They must have got into my mail again.”
“But Felt, isn’t that too radical?” Emilia questioned, worry spread across her face.
Felt stopped. “Huh?”
Looking deep into Emilia’s eyes, Felt’s anger melted away. “I guess so.”
“Anyways. I have the dragon blood as I promised.” Felt says as she grabs into her pack, trying to find the ampule with sacred liquid. “Ah… Here it is.”
Emilia’s eyes grew wide open while tears of joy appeared in the corners of her eyes.
“Wait. They actually let you have it?” Subaru spoke up, not believing that this was real.
“Well yeah. “Felt smirked. “But it is a secret how I convinced them to give it to me.”
Emilia could barely believe this wasn’t a dream, so she squeezed Subaru’s hand as she looked at him. “Subaru, we have a bright future in front of us.”
Subaru closed his eyes and nodded. “Yeah.”
“There is little more than we actually need, so I can take it. I wonder how you will handle me in bed with it.”
“Yea—” Subaru looked at her with horror. “What do you mean by that? I could barely keep up with you!”
Oblivious to the pair’s bickering, Felt started laughing hysterically, earning their attention.
“What is it, Felt?”
“Hah…?” Felt stopped cackling. “Oh, nothing… I have only read all about your love life already. But actually seeing parts of it is different.”
Both Subaru and Emilia went silent, turning red as a mato. This would be their doom.
Outside the room, there was another person who was as pale as a ghost.
Otto has listened to the conversation. As Emilia revealed her desire to take the Dragon Blood to spice up her intimate life, he knew that he had to act quickly if he wanted to have an hour of sleep when the pair would inevitably try for children again after the birth of the current ones.
After the first time, the whole mansion could only enjoy sleep after Emilia got pregnant. And he can be sure that after their children are born, it won’t take long before they will try for more, which, thanks to human-elf compatibility, can take months or years in a worst-case scenario.
It wouldn’t be that big of an issue if somebody didn’t want to become an author. They would surely use this opportunity to write the second part of their romance novel.
So, clutching his fists, Otto ran towards the library, the last known place of the only being in Roswaal’s mansion capable of saving them all, unaware that it was already too late.